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AAT CEO calls for Government to fix the Help to Grow: Management scheme

7 Feb 2022
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AAT CEO Sarah Beale is calling on the Government to make prompt changes to its Help to Grow: Management scheme to help boost uptake from small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) across the UK.

Up until 31 October 2021, only 810 people had signed up to the 30,000 places available in the programme.

In a letter to Paul Scully MP, the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets, she has called for changes to the eligibility criteria to increase applications and uptake.

The recommendations include:

  • Allowing more than one person per company to participate, which would help more staff to gain additional management skills and understanding
  • Making employees of the 3,000 small businesses which participated in the Small Business Leadership Programme eligible for Help to Grow, which they are currently prohibited from joining
  • Reducing the minimum number of employees required for an SME to take part in Help to Grow from five to one, retaining the existing safeguard that participating employees should be employed in a line management role
  • Permitting charities to participate, helping to increase take-up as well as boosting the economic performance of the charity sector which is predominantly made up of small and medium-sized entities.

AAT believes restrictive eligibility criteria as the key factor holding the scheme back.

Beale comments:

“We would very much like to see this scheme succeed… However, without prompt government intervention, the scheme may prove to be another missed opportunity and frankly underdeliver, despite good intentions and ambition.

“AAT members provide tax and accountancy services to over half a million UK SMEs, so we know how important it is to help support skills growth in the sector.

“AAT is committed to working with the Government to give the Help to Grow: Management scheme every chance of success and we’ll continue to signpost our members and stakeholders to the scheme in the meantime.”

David Nunn is a former Content Manager at AAT.

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